Budapest, Sept 28. (dpa/GNA) – Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, resigned as expected on Sunday, saying he wants to become prime minister.
“Today is the day I am stepping down,” Vučić said in an address on state broadcaster RTS.
The partly autocratic leader plans to stand as the lead candidate for his Progressive Party in the snap parliamentary election on October 25 and, if successful, become prime minister.
Parliamentary speaker Ana Brnabić, a political ally of Vučić, will initially take over as acting head of state.
Experts believe the 56-year-old hopes the move will consolidate his grip on power. His term as head of state ends next year, and after two terms, he is not permitted to stand again.
He is under significant domestic pressure from a protest movement largely organized by students.
GNA